Published 22:23 IST, September 17th 2020
Congress asks JJP chief Dushyant Chautala, "Will Chhote CM resign?" over 3 farm bills
Lashing out at BJP's Haryana ally JJP chief Dushyant Chautala, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Thursday, asked if Chautala will resign as Deputy CM
Lashing out at BJP's Haryana ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Thursday, asked if Chautala will resign as Deputy CM in opposition to the three Farm bills. Alleging that Chautala loved his post and not farmers, Surjewala said that JJP was the behind-the-scenes partner of the 'anti-farmer' BJP government. The Haryana BJP-JJP government has been in a fix facing massive farmers' protest over the three farm bills. All three bills have been passed by Lok Sabha.
Surjewala taunts Deputy CM Chautala
SAD: Badal resigns in protest
During the debate, BJP's staunch ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) opposed the three Farm bills in the Lok Sabha. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal will resign from the government to protest farm bills. The minister herself confirmed the same on twitter.
Lauding her act, the Leader of Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said that 'she displayed her guts by opposing this draconian legislation'. Meanwhile, Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh alleged it was 'theatrics' enacted by Akali Dal. Pointing out that the Akali Dal had not quit from the BJP-led NDA coalition, he said that her resignation was done to save Akali Dal's 'dwindling political fortunes'.
The three farm bills have seen widespread protests across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, with thousands of farmers blocking roads. At Kurukshetra, the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the agitators, leading to massive outrage criticising the Police and the Haryana government. While Haryana Congress leaders claimed that the ruling BJP government is anti-farmers, the Manohar Lal Khattar government stayed mum till Saturday. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has already passed a resolution in the Assembly, rejecting the three ordinances, assuring farmers all cases will be withdrawn for their protests.
What are the three Farm bills?
Amid the nationwide lockdown, the Centre rolled out its third tranche of economic measures to kickstart the economy which included three governance and administrative reforms in agriculture. Amending the Essential Commodities act, the Centre aimed to enable better price realisation for farmers by attracting investments - making agriculture sector competitive. Agriculture foodstuff including cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions and potato to be deregulated while stock limits were to imposed under extreme conditions.
Under the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm services ordinance, 2020, it provided a framework for the protection and empowerment of farmers with reference to the sale and purchase of farm products overriding all state APMC laws. The ordinance which was promulgated on June 5, 2020, will enable farmers for engaging with processors and aggregators, large retailers, exporters in a transparent way. In the recently released FY 21 - Q1 figures by Centre, Agriculture sector is the only one which grew by 13% due to no lockdowns.
Updated 22:23 IST, September 17th 2020